STNS: Chapter 513 (Patreon)

Located deep beneath the earth’s surface, situated before a mountain whose jagged peaks rose into the sky like an ancient sentinel, stood the entrance to the Immortal Yin Cave, through which Yōuměi walked.

The ground was uneven and treacherous, made up of slick, damp stone from the persistent moisture that seeped through the cave’s vast network of cracks. Every step Yōuměi took felt heavier than the last. She couldn’t describe the sensations welling up inside of her. The thick, oppressive atmosphere was heavy with the presence of Yin energy. It lingered on the walls, the ceiling, within the very earth itself. Yōuměi blinked as she almost slipped on a rock. It was dark. She could see just fine thanks to her heightened vision, but there was barely enough light to guide her path, and certainly not enough to dispel the shadows.

It’s cold…

The temperature had dropped unnaturally rapidly. Yōuměi knew this was because the cave was heavy with Yin energy, which she had learned about thanks to Master. Yin energy was the energy of death, of cold, of night, and shadows. Despite the cold temperature and heavy atmosphere, Yōuměi felt quite at home.

As she crested a slope, the path she had been traversing opened into a vast cavern filled with hauntingly beautiful plants. All of them released a strange, ghostly glow. The air was thick with the scent of something ancient, intoxicating, and otherworldly. Yōuměi breathed in deeply, feeling both her lungs and her dantian expand. Just by being in this place, her cultivation had begun to rise.

Yōuměi walked past dark, twisted trees with pale, almost translucent bark, their branches extending toward the ceiling like desperate hands seeking escape. Their leaves were black as obsidian and shimmered faintly with a silvery hue. They made eerie sounds when they rustled, like naughty, whispering children. It was creepy.

The ground was blanketed with creeping vines and low-lying plants that fed off the Yin energy surrounding them. Yōuměi had to watch where she stepped. Several times, she almost got tangled within the vines.

As she walked through the cavern, the sound of slithering reached her ears. Yōuměi turned toward the sound but saw nothing. Frowning, she continued to walk, taking a single step--only to shriek in surprise when something wrapped around her left leg. She looked down to see a vine had coiled around her leg. Before she could think to cut it with shadows, Yōuměi was lifted off the ground.

“What the--what is this thing?!”

Was this some kind of magical beast?!

The plant monster swung Yōuměi around, back and forth, making her feel slightly nauseous. It was hard to concentrate. This thing was also sucking Yin energy from her body. It embedded several needles into her flesh, a strange glow emitting from where they penetrated her skin. Through the blurry haze as she was shaken back and forth, Yōuměi could see the Yin energy being drained from her body.

“Shadow Claw!”

Yōuměi shouted as she channeled a miniscule amount of power into her claws, turning them pitch black, and slicing through the vines with them. She flipped around and dropped to the ground. More vines shot up, but she cut them down as she began retreating.

The entire forest seemed to have come alive. Trees attempted to grab at her, vines shot from the earth, and harmless looking shrubs grew needles that threatened to impale her. Cuts appeared on her flesh as Yōuměi ran, swinging clawed hands around her with reckless intent to slice through everything that came her way. She eventually reached the other side and ran through a small cavern that was empty of plants. Several vines tried to follow her, but she cut them down before they could.

“Haaaaah…haaaah…”

Breathing heavily, Yōuměi took a moment to catch her breath. She had no idea what those things were, but it appeared as if that entire cavernous forest was alive.

Yōuměi decided to continue on. The tunnel she found herself in was winding. It didn’t just curve from left to right, but also traveled up and down. There was only one path, and so she followed it.

“Hisssss!!!”

A creature leapt out from a shadow, hissing at her. Yōuměi leapt back and swiped at the thing with her claws, but her hand went straight through it, as though it wasn’t real. She frowned. What floated before her was a semi-ethereal creature that resembled a large serpent, though it moved like a shadow. After it failed to kill her, the creature disappeared into the wall.

That’s not Shadow Walking… what kind of technique is that?

Yōuměi couldn’t make heads or tails of the creature’s technique, but she knew that she couldn’t just stand there doing nothing. She closed her eyes. Shutting off her vision enhanced her other senses. She also shut off her sense of smell. This creature had no sense, so smell was useless. Channeling her chi, Yōuměi released shadows into the ground and sensed the area around her, creating something like a bubble made of shadows.

“Shadow Sense.”

With the shadows at her feet extending all around her, Yōuměi’s senses were enhanced. She could sense everything that moved nearby. The serpent creature was beyond her senses. It must be hiding within the walls. Her shadows could not extend that far. However…

“Hsssssss…”

Yōuměi sensed the creature the moment it emerged.

“Maw of Darkness!”

Yōuměi raised her hands, and a giant mouth with several rows of sharp teeth rose above the serpent. When she clapped her hands, the mouth closed, clamping down around the serpent, which hissed and struggled to break free. It could not, however, and the creature eventually dispersed.

That was not the only magical beast Yōuměi ran into down there. Magical hounds that looked like spectral dogs with gleaming red eyes leapt at her from hidden ledges, floating spectres with scythe-like arms and no face appeared seemingly at random. Yōuměi fought each one of these vicious creatures and consumed their spirit stones. They were the tastiest spirit stones she had ever eaten. She couldn’t quite describe their taste, but she enjoyed them nonetheless.

And because they were so tasty, Yōuměi decided to hunt more of them.

***

Time passed, and Yōuměi felt her cultivation rising every time she ate a spirit stone. It wasn’t long before her dantian felt full. It was a feeling similar to when she ate so much that she couldn’t eat another bite. What’s more, as she ate, it felt like the Yin energy she consumed was trying to escape her body. Containing it became a struggle.

I need to find someplace to rest…

Yōuměi understood what this was. She was getting ready to break through to the second subrealm of the Deva Realm.

The deeper Yōuměi traveled into the Immortal Yin Cave, the more oppressive the atmosphere became. Even she was beginning to feel affected by the thick and dense air. It became harder to breathe the deeper she traveled. The oppressive Yin energy saturated everything, seeping into every crevice of the cave, and the temperature fluctuated wildly, at times becoming cold and numbing, while other times turning warm and stagnant.

Yōuměi soon realized that she could combat this feeling by expelling her chi. Doing so formed something like a barrier around her, but she soon realized the problem with doing things this way--her chi was rapidly draining from her. To solve this, she hunted more monsters as she traveled and consumed their spirit stones to replenish her own chi. This caused her dantian to expand. It wasn’t long before Yōuměi felt like cracks were forming on her dantian and meridians.

The amount of time that passed, and Yōuměi soon reached what seemed to be the deepest part of the cave. Her body felt heavy. Her steps were unsteady. She had spent every waking moment fighting magical beasts, consuming their spirit stones, and converting the energy in them to create a barrier that protected her. That took a lot of effort and she was almost at her limit.

At the very bottom of this cave was a small black pond. It was too dark to see the bottom. A single rock jutted from the surface in the center of the pond, and protruding from the rock was the very thing she had come here for.

The Yinhua Lán, otherwise known as the MoonShadow Orchid, had dark blue petals that shimmered with an otherworldly light, as though reflecting the moon despite no light shining on it. Its petals were smooth and delicate, almost translucent. Tiny silver veins ran through its petals, resembling moonlight streaming through dark clouds.

Yōuměi sniffed the air. A subtle but intoxicating fragrance filled the cave. It was both haunting and soothing. She frowned as she cautiously walked up to the pond and looked down.

I can’t see anything…

Natural treasures like this almost always had a magical beast guarding it. Magical beasts were drawn to powerful natural resources like this. While Yōuměi did not see anything right now, that did not mean nothing was there. She was certain a magical beast was here somewhere, hidden as it watched her. She already could feel its eyes on her. She just couldn’t figure out where this feeling was coming from.

Just as she was about to reach for the flower, scuttling caught her attention, and she leapt back just as something dropped from the ceiling.

“A spider?”

What appeared before her and now stood protectively over the flower was a massive and terrifying spider whose body exuded an aura of pure Yin energy. Its legs were long and spindly, stretching out like jagged shadows. Each of its eight legs were covered in dark, silky, webbed armor that shifted hues from pitch black to dark violent as it moved.

Its body was about the size of a small house, with an abdomen that glowed faintly with a ghostly blue light. Yōuměi, who was sensitive to Yin energy, could sense the pulsating energy inside of it, though she could not detect its cultivation. This was a feral magical beast that had achieved incredible strength but never bothered trying to attain a human form. She stared into its large, circular eyes that gleamed like dark obsidian with slivers of glowing silver running through them.

Before Yōuměi could consider her next move, the spider moved first, spitting silky threads laced with Yin Chi. She understood that getting caught by those would not be good, and so she dodged them. The threads struck the ground. Yōuměi furrowed her brow when the threads passed through the earth like they weren’t there.

Hmmm… these attacks don’t affect the physical world. They only affect the soul…

Meaning if she got hit with one of those attacks, she would undoubtedly have her soul ripped from her body.

“Shadow Spikes!”

Yōuměi leapt back to avoid another web, then slammed her hands into the ground. Numerous spikes traveled from her shadow and toward the spider. Just before the spikes reached it, the spider leapt away from the Yinhua Lan flower. It then launched another web at her. Yōuměi avoided the web, but as it passed, she felt a strange pull. It felt like her body was stuck despite not being hit. The moment passed and Yōuměi quickly raced away from the web.

The spider fired more webs and Yōuměi soon realized why her body felt like it was slowing down--because it was slowing down. The webs didn’t disappear like the first attack. Whenever she neared one of those webs, her body became slower. It felt like she was wading through molasses.

This web… is it slowing down time?!

She didn’t know if that’s what was happening, but her body was becoming slower just by being in close proximity to the webs. As the creature fired more and more webs, the effects seemed to increase.

I can’t afford to just dodge!

Just then, the spider spat something at her. It was venom. Yōuměi didn’t know what kind of venom, but she had no intention of finding out. She dodged to the side. The venom splashed against the ground and didn’t seem to do anything, but that just meant it was the type that only affected living things.

“Shadow Panther!”

Yōuměi manifested her shadow chi into the form of a panther. One soon became two, and two became four. Leaping back, she sent her panthers forward and watched as they passed right through the webs.

I see. Those webs only affect people. Shadows are not affected. Can my shadows affect the webs?

Yōuměi directed her panthers to attack the webs, and watched as they slashed through it. So the shadows could attack the webs, but the webs could not affect the shadows. Yōuměi wished she was as smart as her big sisters. They would know why this was happening. She, however, could not make sense of it, but she at least knew how to take advantage of the situation.

She made her panthers quickly cut a path that she could travel through. The spider magical beast began spitting a combination of venom and threads at her, but she avoided them with a combination of deft movements and shadow walking.

“Shadow Tail!”

A shadow extended from Yōuměi’s tail and latched onto one of the spider’s legs. She pulled herself to the spider with it.

“Shadow Fang!”

Yōuměi concentrated chi into her mouth, creating dark fangs that she sank into the spider’s carapace. The creature squealed and tried to throw her off, but she clung to it.

“Shadow Claw!”

Her claws extended and sharpened, turning black, and she stabbed them into the carapace to maintain her grip.

The shadow panthers quickly attacked the spider’s legs. They could not deal much damage to it, but they knocked it over with sheer force. As the creature tumbled onto its back, Yōuměi traversed its body, until she was right next to its glowing blue abdomen.

“Shadow Tail!”

“Shadow Fang!”

“Shadow Claw!”

She used three attacks at once. She stabbed her tail, claws, and fangs into the spider’s abdomen. Yin chi erupted from the gaping openings she created. The spider squealed in agony as it wiggled and bounced like it was trying to throw her off, but she was having none of it. She sent her chi deep inside the creature, finding its source of power, the spirit stone, and used her shadow manipulation to rip it out of the monster’s stomach.

All at once, the magical beast ceased moving.

Yōuměi thought this was the end. With the creature dead, she could do what she came here to do.

“Ngggg?!”

But pain soon struck her. Yōuměi tumbled off the carcass, her shadows dispersed, and she landed on the ground, curling into a ball.

What… is this…?

Yōuměi grimaced as her vision became duller and duller.